Recently Watched Movies 2023 | Page 12 | The Boneyard

Recently Watched Movies 2023

Been watching a lot of A24 recently, (why wouldn’t I, they’re incredible) specifically some of the Asian ones. Saw Past Lives in theaters about a month ago and loved it. Really moving and realistically emotional. Then I watched Minari, I liked it, didn’t love it as much as I thought I would though. But beautifully shot and acting was really great.

Finally, just watched The Farewell which may have been my favorite of the bunch. Super emotional, both happiness and sadness, and incredibly real in the portrayal of relationships within a family. Highly recommend all 3.
 
Dove said:
"Knock on the Cabin" (2023) - Kinda wasnt expecting to like this move. Its really good.

An M Night movie.

Two parents and a young daughter are visited by strangers who warn of the apocolypse.
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So I watched it tonight. Confirm it’s pretty good. Dave Bautista is excellent. It does a good job of leaving you in doubt until the end. It’s simply an impossible situation. Constant tension from early on.
 
Before Sunrise (1995) - This romance film was directed by Richard Linklater and stars Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. Hawke is an American on vacation in Europe, and Delpy plays a French woman. They meet on a Eurail train, and quickly develop a liking for each other. Hawke is flying back to the USA the next day, so he persuades Delpy to get off the train and spend the rest of the day and night together taking in the the sights in Vienna, where he is flying out of the next day.

Hawke and Delpy carry the movie from start to finish, and develop quite a chemistry together. They are almost in every scene in this movie. The film is basically a bunch of conversations between the two of them, with the occasional kiss thrown in. This movie is pretty much all talk and pretty much nothing else happens, so it certainly won't appeal to everyone.

While not a great film, I did think it was entertaining to some degree, although with all the talking I have to admit that my mind started to wander off from time to time. Still, I stuck with it to the end. As I indicated before, I would guess there are a number of people out there who would not be able to stick with this movie from start to finish.

By the way, Linklater directed one of our favorite films of the last 15 years, "Bernie".
 
Twister. Was in the mood for this the other day. Part disaster movie, part rom-com. Helen Hunt in her Mad About You era, Bill Paxton, Cary Elwes as the bad guy and Jamie Gertz. The cast is pretty epic really, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Allan Ruck, Jeremy Davies. The special effects were great for the time, convey a convincing sense of terror if being unrealistic at times about what it is like "near" a tornado. Michael Crichton did the screenplay. Jan de Bont directed. Reportedly he insisted that it be filmed in Oklahoma. That saved it, because despite the CGI you get a proper sense of the place and it makes a difference. This was the #2 movie back in 1996, and is worth a watch.
 
HuskyHawk said:
Twister. Was in the mood for this the other day. Part disaster movie, part rom-com. Helen Hunt in her Mad About You era, Bill Paxton, Cary Elwes as the bad guy and Jamie Gertz. The cast is pretty epic really, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Allan Ruck, Jeremy Davies. The special effects were great for the time, convey a convincing sense of terror if being unrealistic at times about what it is like "near" a tornado. Michael Crichton did the screenplay. Jan de Bont directed. Reportedly he insisted that it be filmed in Oklahoma. That saved it, because despite the CGI you get a proper sense of the place and it makes a difference. This was the #2 movie back in 1996, and is worth a watch.
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All true. Still it's not a very good movie. Great special effects but used poorly. There is a scene where a twister drops a house on the road right in front of Bill and Helen. No problem they just drive through the house, room by room, easy peasy without slowing down. And, of course, there's a flying cow.
 
Palatine said:
All true. Still it's not a very good movie. Great special effects but used poorly. There is a scene where a twister drops a house on the road right in front of Bill and Helen. No problem they just drive through the house, room by room, easy peasy without slowing down. And, of course, there's a flying cow.
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I mean, there would be flying cows. That's legit. Still, not James Bond level implausible. The worst really was them getting so close to drop Dororthy. Nah. That isn't happening. Plus the noise is worse than what the film indicates.
 
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dbmill said:
I remember this being a terrific film as well. I saw "A Clockwork Orange" a number of times when I was a student at UConn many years ago, and I haven't seen it since. I did record it recently on our DVR, so sometime soon I hope to watch it again.
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i only partially remember drunken Rocky Horror Picture Show midnights in the ROTC while i was there
 
BrysonDeMan said:
i only partially remember drunken Rocky Horror Picture Show midnights in the ROTC while i was there
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When I was a student at UConn in the late 1970's into the early 1980's, there were a few film society's at UConn that would regularly show movies, in addition to various dorms and other groups that would show movies as fundraisers. That was in addition to the films that the movie theater in Storrs would show (and they showed all sorts of stuff while they were still in business). I went to plenty of these movies while I was a UConn student.

I also recall Rocky Horror getting shown at ROTC, I might have gone once to see it at ROTC. During my freshmen and sophomore years, I went a number of times to Manchester with a friend who was also a student at UConn to watch midnight showings of Rocky Horror.
 
dbmill said:
When I was a student at UConn in the late 1970's into the early 1980's, there were a few film society's at UConn that would regularly show movies, in addition to various dorms and other groups that would show movies as fundraisers. That was in addition to the films that the movie theater in Storrs would show (and they showed all sorts of stuff while they were still in business). I went to plenty of these movies while I was a UConn student.

I also recall Rocky Horror getting shown at ROTC, I might have gone once to see it at ROTC. During my freshmen and sophomore years, I went a number of times to Manchester with a friend who was also a student at UConn to watch midnight showings of Rocky Horror.
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I saw Rocky horror at the ROTC hanger too. Around the same time, I got hired to be "security" at a showing of Alien in a lecture hall around the same time, which basically consisted of me standing up in the back of the theater and watching the film. I think it was a fundraiser for some on campus group.
 
Because of a recent trip to Six Flags I had DC Comics on the brain and watched the three Henry Cavill Superman movies, but ended up watching them in reverse order.

Also watched Gal Godot in Heart of Stone. A mindless action movie but I liked it.
 
dbmill said:
Banshees of Inisherin (2022) - I was attracted to watching this movie as the writer and director Martin McDonagh, and its two stars Colin Farrell and Bendan Gleason were the main cogs of the film "In Bruges", one of my favorite films of the past 20 years.

"Banshees of Inisherin" seems to be well done and is okay, but it just didn't grab me like "In Bruges" when I first saw that movie. "Banshees" is said to be a dark comedy. While the film is certainly in a dark mode, it didn't seem all that funny to me. The two stars play a couple of people who have been friends for a long time, but one of them at the beginning of the film decides to end the friendship, and the end of this friendship has all sorts of ramifications attached to it. As the film progresses, I found neither of these two guys all that likable, and for me that did not help this film. This is not a movie I am eager to see again.
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In Bruges was on a different level. As good as Gleason and Farrell were, Ralph Fiennes stole the show for me. I did like Banshees but but not as much. I did drag on for a while and was really dark and twisted.
 
Insidious 1-4. I haven't seen #5, but for fans of horror movies, Insidious was really good. Scary as hell. So we watched the sequel and then the next two. James Wan directs the first three. Each of these leaves you essentially hanging. While not billed at the lead, Elise, the medium played by Lin Shaye is really the actress/character that ties everything together. Insidious Chapter 2 continues where the first left off, but both have flashbacks to reveal more about Patrick Wilson's character Josh. Insidious Chapter 3 is a prequel and is probably the best film of the three, if the least scary. Insidious: The Last Key (#4) take place between 1 and 3, so is a prequel to 1 but not to 3. If you like horror films that aren't the gore/slasher type, give them a try.

The one currently in cinemas is Insidious: The Red Door (#5) and it's a sequel to Chapter 2 chronologically.
 
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HuskyHawk said:
Insidious 1-4. I haven't seen #5, but for fans of horror movies, Insidious was really good. Scary as hell. So we watched the sequel and then the next two. James Wan directs the first three. Each of these leaves you essentially hanging. While not billed at the lead, Elise, the medium played by Lin Shaye is really the actress/character that ties everything together. Insidious Chapter 2 continues where the first left off, but both have flashbacks to reveal more about Patrick Wilson's character Josh. Insidious Chapter 3 is a prequel and is probably the best film of the three, if the least scary. Insidious: The Last Key (#4) take place between 1 and 3, so is a prequel to 1 but not to 3. If you like horror films that aren't the gore/slasher type, give them a try.

The one currently in cinemas is Insidious: The Red Door (#5) and it's a sequel to Chapter 2 chronologically.
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The trailer for that new exorcist movie coming out in the fall that they showed before Oppenheimer looked absolutely terrifying. It was so intense I almost couldn't believe they were showing it.
 
Letsgohuskies11 said:
The trailer for that new exorcist movie coming out in the fall that they showed before Oppenheimer looked absolutely terrifying. It was so intense I almost couldn't believe they were showing it.
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The Pope’s Exorcist is streaming now and is quite good. Our new parish priest knew him and trained in Rome. Guess we are ok if the worst happens.
 
dbmill said:
Before Sunrise (1995) - This romance film was directed by Richard Linklater and stars Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. Hawke is an American on vacation in Europe, and Delpy plays a French woman. They meet on a Eurail train, and quickly develop a liking for each other. Hawke is flying back to the USA the next day, so he persuades Delpy to get off the train and spend the rest of the day and night together taking in the the sights in Vienna, where he is flying out of the next day.

Hawke and Delpy carry the movie from start to finish, and develop quite a chemistry together. They are almost in every scene in this movie. The film is basically a bunch of conversations between the two of them, with the occasional kiss thrown in. This movie is pretty much all talk and pretty much nothing else happens, so it certainly won't appeal to everyone.

While not a great film, I did think it was entertaining to some degree, although with all the talking I have to admit that my mind started to wander off from time to time. Still, I stuck with it to the end. As I indicated before, I would guess there are a number of people out there who would not be able to stick with this movie from start to finish.

By the way, Linklater directed one of our favorite films of the last 15 years, "Bernie".
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Beyond Sunset (2004) - This is a romantic sequel to "Before Sunrise" which takes place nine years after the original movie. Once again, it is directed by Richard Linklater and starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. This film is pretty similar to the original as the two stars this time meet in Paris, and spend a day together wondering around Paris before Hawke once again has to fly home to the USA. Once again, this film is basically one conversation after another. I believe it is safe to say that if you thought the first film was okay, you will find this film to be pretty watchable as well. I thought it was okay.
 
HuskyHawk said:
The Pope’s Exorcist is streaming now and is quite good. Our new parish priest knew him and trained in Rome. Guess we are ok if the worst happens.
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LOL! I watched by myself and enjoyed it. I was raised Catholic and as pretty much an atheist, it intrigues me that Amorth was a real person.
 
Just saw John Wick Chapter Four. I must be getting old because I thought it was terrible. Upon review I loved the 1st one, liked the 2nd one and barely tolerated 3rd one. This 4th iteration confirms my recommendation to watch the first and forget all the sequels.
 
Just watched "To Catch A Killer." It's on Hulu. Compelling movie about a manhunt for a mass killer. Started with a sniper attack during the New Year's Eve celebration. I thought it was NYC, but they kept saying BPD, so maybe Boston? Stars Shailene Woodley and Ben Mendelsohn.

edit--it's Baltimore
 
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You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah (2023) - Netflix

Sandler has been on a role lately on his Netflix flicks (Murder Mystery and Hustle were favorites of mine), but this one was meh.

Had no idea until after watching the movie that Sandler's actual daughters are his daughters in the film: fun fact. I would recommend it for families with middle school/high school aged kids as I think this movie did a good job replicating what it's like to grow up nowadays.

Some funny moments, I actually really like Sandler in the movie (could have used more), but overall, felt slow moving and longer than the 90 minute length.
 
The Trip to Greece (2020) - This movie is the last of a series of four "Trip" movies directed by Michael Winterbottom, and starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as some sort of fictionalized versions of themselves. They all feature Coogan and Brydon on a vacation somewhere in Europe.

I quite enjoyed the first three movies in this series. in addition to the focus on the vacation with its travelogue and food, the films contains much interesting, clever and witty conversations chiefly involving Coogan and/or Brydon, including a dueling series of vocal impressions of other actors and other well known figures between the two stars.

Anyway, I found that while this film was okay, I did not enjoy this Trip movie as much as I did the first three films in this series. I'm inclined to think that in this movie there is less of a focus on the travel and the food they encounter during their trip. Instead the focus seems to be much more on the interplay between Coogan and Brydon and their various conversations and impressions of other people.
 
The Flash. 2023. The younger version of the Flash was one of the most annoying (in a bad way) characters to have ever hit the silver screen. The older Flash is somewhat annoying but the kid takes the cake. Time travel movies are almost always sort of silly. But this one did not even bother to pretend to have reason for its complete lack of common sense. The how and why of time travel isn't even really discussed. And how Batman knows that time travel is a matrix and not a timeline is another giant leap of faith that gets nowhere.

I like big special effects action movies. And there were some decent performances and huge mega-scale fights. So I enjoyed the movie in spite of itself. But the special effects of past super heroes was C- stuff. Just awful. Like I said, I like these kind of movies so I give it a one star. But man-o-man there is a lot wrong about The Flash.
 
I wonder how Batman would answer your questioning how he would know that time is the matrix and not a timeline?

tim burton film GIF by hoppip
 
Seen bits and pieces of it, but never saw the entirety of the 1984 version of "Dune" until now. It's weird. It's David Lynch, so it has to be. Sure did pack a lot more in it's running time than the new version (which is a two parter of course). The Harkonnens were all stark raving mad. Sean Young and Virginia Madsen circa 1984...well that's two reasons to watch it.
 
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nwhoopfan said:
Seen bits and pieces of it, but never saw the entirety of the 1984 version of "Dune" until now. It's weird. It's David Lynch, so it has to be. Sure did pack a lot more in it's running time than the new version (which is a two parter of course). The Harkonnens were all stark raving mad. Sean Young and Virginia Madsen circa 1984...well that's two reasons to watch it.
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The making of that movie was a mess. Lynch had the budget to make it look better, but he just didn't have the expertise to pull off the special effects.

My take on the actors (from by 2021 post on the movie):

Matchup comparison, actors of 1984 Dune to actors of 2021 Dune:

More of ">" indicates a bigger gap between the actors.

Paul Atriedes - Timothy Chalamet >>>>>>>> Kyle MacLachlan - MacLachlan is a mediocre actor on his good days. Chalamet is great.

Chani - Zendaya >>>> Sean Young. Sean Young's claim to fame is being one of the most batspit crazy actors in the history of a town of batspit crazy actors. One of the problems with the first Dune is that MacLachlan and Young couldn't carry a movie as the leads.

Duncan Idaho - Jason Mamoa >> Richard Jordan. Jordan was a good actor back in the day, but this was weird casting in the 1984 movie. He wasn't right for the role.

Baron Harkonnen - Stellan Skarsgard >>> Kenneth McMillan. McMillan wasn't bad in Dune 1984, but Skarsgard is one of the best actors of his generation.

Duke Leto - Oscar Isaac >>> Jurgen Prochnow. Prochnow was not bad, but Isaac is better as an actor and the writing for Leto is so much better in the new one.

Lady Jessica - Francesca Annis >>>>> Rebecca Ferguson. I thought Rebecca Ferguson was absolutely wrong for Lady Jessica. Francesca Annis played her badass, and as someone to be feared. Ferguson is mousy and plays her practically afraid of her own shadow, so when Lady Jessica wins a couple of the confrontations in Dune 2021, it doesn't feel credible.

Gurney Hallock - Patrick Stewart > Josh Brolin. Close, but Stewart was better.

Shadout Mapes - Linda Hunt >>>> Golda Rosheuvel. There were a lot of odd directorial decisions in Dune 1984, but one of the few good ones was giving Linda Hunt a lot of screen time.

Stilgar - Javier Bardem > Everett McGill. Too early to call, although Bardem is probably going to come out ahead.

Thufir Hawat - Stephen McKinley Henderson = Freddie Jones. Both were good. Henderson has a chance to pull into the lead in Part II.

Dr. Yueh - Dean Stockwell > Chen Chang. I thought Chang was fine in the role, but the writers kind of screwed up the character in Dune 2021.

Rabban - Dave Bautista >>>>> Paul Smith. I thought Smith's Rabban was one of the worst acting jobs in the first Dune, for a role that isn't that hard. Simple competence by Bautista is a huge improvement.
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Palatine said:
The Flash. 2023. The younger version of the Flash was one of the most annoying (in a bad way) characters to have ever hit the silver screen. The older Flash is somewhat annoying but the kid takes the cake. Time travel movies are almost always sort of silly. But this one did not even bother to pretend to have reason for its complete lack of common sense. The how and why of time travel isn't even really discussed. And how Batman knows that time travel is a matrix and not a timeline is another giant leap of faith that gets nowhere.

I like big special effects action movies. And there were some decent performances and huge mega-scale fights. So I enjoyed the movie in spite of itself. But the special effects of past super heroes was C- stuff. Just awful. Like I said, I like these kind of movies so I give it a one star. But man-o-man there is a lot wrong about The Flash.
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Started this. Got to the baby scene at the hospital 10 minutes in and turned it off.

Switched to The Crucifixion. Not a bad horror movie. All set and filmed in Romania which was interesting.
 
Palatine said:
The Flash. 2023. The younger version of the Flash was one of the most annoying (in a bad way) characters to have ever hit the silver screen.
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That's too bad. I was hoping they would get this one right. Kevin Smith raved about it, I guess he was just being a hype-man.
 
CROSSING DELANCEY....last night, on TV. Filmed in NYC
 
Monte said:
CROSSING DELANCEY....last night, on TV. Filmed in NYC
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It was on Turner Classic Movies, it seems to show up there from time to time. One of these days I'll get around to watching it.
 
Watched Arrival (2016) last week with Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner. Not sure how I missed that the first time around, I really enjoyed the storyline. I don't think Amy Adams is the best actress in the world, but she was fine here. The twist and overall "a ha" of it all was really well done. I found myself thinking about the movie for a couple days afterwards which is always a good indicator for me.
 
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